Nova Scotia general election, 2003

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August 5, 2003

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52 seats of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly
27 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party
			LIB
Leader	John Hamm	Darrell Dexter	Danny Graham
Party	Progressive Conservative	New Democratic	Liberal
Leader's seat	Pictou Centre	Cole Harbour	Halifax Citadel
Last election	30	11	11
Seats won	25	15	12
Seat change	5	4	1
Popular vote	148,182	126,479	128,417
Percentage	36.32%	31.00%	31.47%
Swing	2.88%	1.03%	1.66%

Riding map of Nova Scotia showing winning parties.

Premier before election

John Hamm
Progressive Conservative

Premier-designate

John Hamm
Progressive Conservative

The 36th Nova Scotia general election was held on August 5, 2003 to elect members of the 59th House of Assembly of the Province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The ruling Progressive Conservative Party, led by Premier John Hamm, was reduced to a minority government.

The election was called by Conservatives, who decided to hold a rare summer election in the hope of strengthening their hold on the legislature. Running against them were the New Democratic Party (NDP), led by Darrell Dexter, and the Liberal Party, led by Danny Graham.

Hamm's party ran on a policy of fiscal management, tax cuts, and on their record of fulfilling most of their promises. While the NDP agreed in principle to tax cuts, their main cause was the creation of a public auto insurance company. The Liberals were the only party to criticize the tax cuts.

For the most part, the campaign was quiet and uneventful. Hamm received criticism for a great number of spending programs, including a $150 tax rebate cheque sent to Nova Scotians right before the election. The party was also criticized for holding an election in the summer when most people have other concerns. Darrell Dexter's friendly, non-confrontational style, was popular with many voters, and was a marked change from his party's usually strident socialism. Danny Graham, a young leader, was popular, but failed to make much of a mark.

The election was considered a mild failure for the Liberals and Conservatives, and something of a success for the NDP.

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Wikipedia